


How to Fake a Mating

by Destielshipper4Cas



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Accidental Cuddling, Alpha Dean, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Barebacking, Bottom Castiel, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Falling In Love, First Time, Fluff and Smut, Happy Ending, M/M, Mutual Pining, Omega Castiel, Omega Verse, Pining, Resolved Sexual Tension, Romance, Scent Marking, Sexual Tension, Sharing a Bed, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Strangers to Lovers, Top Dean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:53:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26252953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Destielshipper4Cas/pseuds/Destielshipper4Cas
Summary: As an unmated omega, Castiel is about to be passed over for a promotion when he blurts out that he will get mated soon. The supposed mate-to-be? Dean Winchester, whose name was the first he could think of, even though he has never met his co-worker Sam’s brother before. That is about to change, when the only option to get the promotion is a pretend-relationship with the eligible alpha.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 1012
Kudos: 1950





	1. Chapter 1

Castiel had a real knack for getting himself into difficult situations. The problem was, he wasn’t as good at getting out of them.

A prime example was this fine morning. He had woken up in his tiny one-bedroom apartment and gone to work like any other morning. Well, not _quite_ like any other morning. He actually hoped to get offered the biggest job opportunity of his career today. He’d worked his ass off for this, and finally, all his hard work was about to pay off.

Maybe with the pay raise, he would finally be able to afford a bigger place—one that was more fitting for someone nearing his forties.

So, when his boss’ assistant, a beta named Stuart, came by his cubicle mid-morning, telling him that Zachariah wanted to talk to him, things were actually looking great. Castiel got up and smoothed down his suit jacket—he was wearing his best suit today to show that he was worthy of this opportunity, and he wanted to make a good impression. After taking a deep breath, he followed Stuart to Zachariah’s office.

Zachariah was sitting in his high back leather chair, his hands folded on the burgundy tabletop of his huge desk. Intimidating seemed to be his default setting. He wanted people to know at first glance that he was the head alpha here, before they even had a chance to pick up on his pungent scent of spoiled milk and cheese that was past its expiration date.

His spacious office that seemed bigger than Castiel’s entire apartment was just one more tactic to let people know how important Zachariah was.

Stuart motioned for Castiel to sit down in the chair in front of Zachariah’s desk and then left, closing the door behind him.

Zachariah took his time staring Castiel down, which should have been the first red flag, but Castiel had never once seen Zachariah smile, so his closed-off expression wasn’t exactly indicative of bad news.

Castiel used the time to try and find a better position, but the wooden chair was probably uncomfortable for a reason (another intimidation tactic, no doubt), so he gave up on that endeavor and decided to look at Zachariah expectantly instead.

He had imagined how this talk would go more times than he would like to admit, how he would thank Zachariah profoundly and promise him he wouldn’t regret his decision…

Only when Zachariah finally started talking, he was going on about how he had really wanted to entrust him with this job, but as an alpha, Michael was just the better candidate for it.

Castiel’s insides turned into knots. _Michael?_ That was preposterous! While Michael clocked out early every other day, Castiel was the one staying after hours to make sure things got done (mostly things Michael had messed up). Plus, Castiel was the one who reeled in most high-profile clients! Passing him over in favor of Michael was simply ludicrous!

Castiel was about to tell Zachariah all of that when his ears picked up on one sentence that would be responsible for getting him into trouble this time.

“…would be different if you were mated, of course, but things are what they are, and…”

Like a complete idiot, he blurted out, “I’m actually engaged to be mated.” After a beat of silence, he added, “Sir,” as if that could save him now.

“Oh, really?” Zachariah asked, pausing in his speech about how he couldn’t offer the position to Castiel. His sarcastically raised eyebrow was just the last straw. As if it was so outlandish to think an alpha might want to mate him!

“Yes, really!” Castiel retorted, letting some of his real anger creep into his voice, committed to the lie now. If he weren’t so enraged, he would probably remember that you didn’t talk back at Zachariah.

“And who, might I ask, is the lucky alpha?” Zachariah went on to question him.

“Dean Winchester.” It was the first name that popped into his head and only a second too late did he realize that he should have just made up a name.

But it wasn’t like he knew a lot of alphas. Dean was Sam’s brother and his name had probably come to mind because he’d heard a lot of stories about him from Sam, who was really proud of his alpha big brother.

Zachariah got up and fastened the button of his suit jacket before he walked over to the large window overlooking the city. “Winchester… Don’t we have an employee by that name?” he asked, his back still turned to him.

Castiel had no idea if he should get up too, but he felt it was safer if he stayed seated for now. “Sam Winchester, in legal, sir,” he told Zachariah’s back.

“Oh yes.” Zachariah turned back around, but didn’t sit back down again, which made Castiel feel even smaller. “Nice fellow.”

There was no way Zachariah knew who Sam was, but Castiel nodded regardless.

“So… When are you planning to get mated?”

That’s when he made the second mistake of the day by saying, “This Saturday,” instead of ‘We don’t know yet.’ Or better yet ‘June, next year.’

“Then it’s settled.” Zachariah pushed some button that was built into his desk. “You come back on Monday with the mating bite on your neck and we’ll talk about the assignment then.”

The tone of his voice was a clear dismissal, but even if it hadn’t been, Stuart entered the office at that moment and held it open for Castiel. Since he couldn’t think of an excuse for why Zachariah’s proposal wouldn’t work fast enough, he had no choice but to say “Yes, sir,” get up and leave Zachariah’s office to go back to his cubicle.

The situation he had gotten himself into this time started to sink in when Balthazar came by five minutes later to congratulate him.

News really did travel fast around the office. Or not news so much as deliberately-told fibs as the case may be.

So, here were his options:

1\. He could tell Zachariah on Monday that they had broken off the mating. In that case, it would be pretty obvious that he had made up the whole ‘engaged to be mated’ thing in the first place. Additionally, he would lose the job opportunity to Michael.

2\. He could hire some alpha to bite at his mating gland so that it looked like a mating bite and renew the bite from time to time. Then, after a year or so, he could say the mating hadn’t worked out and they had broken the mating bond. Things would then finally go back to normal with the added bonus that he would have made a name for himself in the firm by then.

Option number two sounded like a brilliant plan—except that he hadn’t blurted out a _random_ name, but Dean Winchester’s who just happened to be the brother of a co-worker.

Sam!

He had completely forgotten about Sam. If news of his supposed mating had reached Balthazar, it was only a matter of time before it reached the legal department.

Castiel dropped everything (it wasn’t like he had been able to concentrate on his work anyway) and hurried down to legal.

Fortunately, he seemed to have gotten there in time. When he knocked and poked his head in the door to Sam’s office, Sam waved him in, friendly as ever.

In stark contrast to Zachariah’s office, Sam’s office was unpretentious and the visitor chair was more comfortable than the one Castiel had to sit in all day. There were pictures of Sam with various friends or maybe family members on the shelf behind him amidst heavy law tomes.

Sam was motioning for him to sit down and he even offered him a cup of coffee.

That’s when Castiel realized that he didn’t even have a plan of action here. What was he supposed to do? Ask Sam to play along if someone were to mention something to him? Of course, Sam would find out the truth soon enough anyway, so Castiel had no choice but to tell him about the situation he had gotten himself into this time.

“I’ll go and tell Zachariah the truth right away,” he finished when the wrinkle on Sam’s forehead only deepened.

“Now, hang on,” Sam held him back when he had just gotten up, intending to leave. “He said that he didn’t give you the position because of your secondary gender designation?”

“Well. It was heavily implied.”

“Okay.” Sam nodded, determined, and turned around to the bookshelf to search for a book. “We don’t have a lot of time till Monday, but let me look into the legal side of things there.” He had finally found the book he was looking for and put it on the desk on the papers he had been working on when Castiel had arrived.

“You don’t have to do that…” Castiel started. Sam had no doubt more important things to do than help him out.

“Righting injustices is why I became a lawyer. I’ll just do some research, see what I can find out till Friday.”

With that declaration, he opened the book and ran his finger down the index until he found the pages he was looking for.

Castiel had no other choice but to thank him and make his way back to his own desk.

The rest of his workday was spent thanking various people he had never even talked to before, who wanted to congratulate him on the fact that he had ‘finally’ found his alpha. Castiel grit his teeth and thanked them with a fake smile. God, this would be embarrassing once he had to come clean on Monday.


	2. Chapter 2

As it turned out, Sam had no good news on Friday. Apparently, Zachariah was well within his rights to promote Michael over an unmated omega. Even though that was pretty much what Castiel had expected, on some level, he had hoped Sam would find him a way out of this situation.

“I can dig a little deeper, but I need some more time,” Sam told him.

There was no way Castiel could ask Sam to spend his weekend looking up legal precedents for him, but Sam was rather stubborn and in the end, Castiel agreed to come by on Sunday so that they could discuss his options.

He spent most of his weekend fantasizing about quitting his job—but he knew things wouldn’t be better elsewhere, so he would never go through with it.

Sunday came around quicker than usual despite his worries, and he drove to the address Sam had given him with mixed feelings.

Sam lived in a nice house in the suburbs, and the first thing Castiel noticed upon entering was the appealing scent. He stopped dead in his tracks and even though it was rather rude, he couldn’t stop himself from trying to scent the air. He could make out the warm, smooth scent of cedarwood, but there was also something indistinguishable and unique that made him lick his lips.

Realizing that he was being a creep (it was most likely Sam’s girlfriend’s scent), Castiel quickly followed Sam into the living room, trying to ignore the scent.

The laptop on the small table in front of the couch was open and the whole table was covered with papers and open books. Sam sat down and motioned for Castiel to do the same before he began explaining the situation.

It basically boiled down to: if he wanted to sue and take Zachariah to court, he’d lose. But apparently, there had been someone who had wanted to file a lawsuit before, and she had gotten quite a sum of money because Zachariah had wanted to keep it quiet and let people assume that his company was all for equality and omega rights, so they settled out of court.

Castiel hadn’t even thought of suing the company. He just wanted that promotion he had worked so hard for.

When he told Sam that, he said, “I thought so. Well, in that case… There are new omega discrimination laws that will be implemented next year, which should make it easier to take legal action against people like Zachariah. So, you could just wait them out…”

Castiel’s heart sank. That meant there was nothing to be done about it now. He’d have to face Zachariah tomorrow, admit that he wasn’t mated, lose the job opportunity to Michael, endure ridicule by his co-workers…

“Of course that doesn’t help you right now,” Sam continued, apparently thinking along the same lines. “If you ask me, you were right the first time. You could just pretend you’re mated for now. It’s not like there’s a mating license they can demand to see.”

Castiel blinked at Sam, who didn’t seem to find it strange for a lawyer to suggest fraud. Wait—was that even fraud? Well, Sam should know…

Before he could ask, they heard the front door open and Castiel looked up, expecting to see Sam’s girlfriend, but instead, an alpha walked in, threw the keys into a key bowl by the door and said, “You’re still here? Eileen kick you out or something?”

Then his eyes landed on Castiel and he stopped short, flaring his nostrils in a deep inhale.

Castiel looked back at him, stunned, as the alluring scent he’d picked up on intensified. There was no doubt about it—this alpha was the source of it.

“I still have most of my books here,” Sam replied in the meantime, but Castiel didn’t pay him any mind, too busy holding eye contact with that alpha. “Castiel, this is my brother Dean,” Sam’s voice registered somewhere in the back of his mind.

 _This_ was the brother?! His supposed boyfriend? He’d never have a chance with an alpha like him in a million years! Dean looked like he had just walked right out of a fashion magazine. Forget fashion— _porno_ magazine. With his plaid shirt and worn jeans, he looked like he had just come in from chopping wood. Castiel could just imagine those biceps bulging as he used an axe to make wood for the fireplace…

Oops, he was still staring.

In his defense, so was Dean.

“Nice to meet you,” Castiel finally managed to get out around a dry throat.

He just hoped Sam wouldn’t rat him out and tell Dean about the whole thing that had gotten him into this mess. There was really no reason for the attractive alpha to know that Castiel had blurted out his name as his pretend mate-to-be.

The way Sam was looking back and forth between them told Castiel he shouldn’t get his hopes up.

“Hang on. You’re the omega they’re trying to screw over?” Dean asked as he walked over to them.

Great. Apparently, Sam had already told his brother about it.

“We were actually just discussing how we can prevent that,” Sam answered for him.

“Yeah, you shouldn’t let those douchebags get away with that,” Dean nodded and flopped down on the couch next to Castiel, bringing that tantalizing scent with him. Castiel could barely hold himself back from leaning in to take a whiff.

The couch was a bit small for three people, but Castiel couldn’t very well crowd Sam, so he only scooted over a tiny bit, staying within scenting range of Dean.

“You’re taking this crap with you when you leave, by the way,” Dean said to Sam as he motioned to the mess of papers on the table.

Sam ignored him and instead leaned forward so that he could look at Castiel. “I moved in with Eileen a couple of months ago,” he explained.

“But half his stuff is still cluttering up the place,” Dean grumbled.

Again, Sam ignored him to go on, “Dean has been pretty lonely in this huge house since then.”

Dean snorted. “You wish!”

“So here’s an idea,” Sam talked right over him. “You—” He pointed at Dean. “—need a roommate. And you—” The finger moved on to point at Castiel. “—need to be fake-mated to someone for a while until those new laws take effect. I say you move in together and we solve two problems at once.”

Castiel was grateful that Sam had said ‘someone,’ as if it didn’t matter who it was, when in reality, he really needed to be fake-mated to _Dean_. It seemed like Sam hadn’t told Dean _every_ thing.

Still, his suggestion was ludicrous at best. As if any alpha in their right mind would agree to that arrangement…

Dean looked at Castiel and shrugged. “Sounds like a plan.”

Did it? It sounded like a recipe for disaster to Castiel. But somehow, he found himself nodding. _He_ was the one who stood to gain everything if Dean played along. If the alpha was stupid enough to offer his help, who was Castiel to refuse it? Plus, he’d get out of his tiny apartment sooner than he could have hoped for. Moving into a house that smelled like Dean? Was the cherry on top.

“Great!” Sam said and started closing books and gathering up his papers. “I should go. Eileen should be back by now. And you two should probably get started on that fake mating bite.”

Castiel could feel his cheeks heat up. He had completely forgotten about that. A few minutes ago, he had thought he would have to go into work tomorrow morning and all of his dreams would come crashing down when Michael got the job and smirked at him in that haughty way of his.

Now, all of a sudden, Dean had agreed to go along with his impulsive lie about having an alpha, giving him back hope that everything would work out after all. But of course, the mating bite was what Zachariah wanted to see—proof that Castiel wasn’t just lying to get the promotion.

Maybe Dean hadn’t known what he had said yes to. He probably hadn’t thought about the fact that he’d have to bite at Castiel’s mating gland until it looked like an alpha had… well, mated him.

“Well, I can just…” Castiel motioned to his mating gland, no idea how to end that sentence.

Dean lifted an eyebrow. “Bite yourself?” he asked.

Okay, when he said it like that… There really was just that one option.

He looked over at Sam for help, but Sam was just stuffing the last book into a huge bag and got up. “Seems like you have this under control,” he said.

Funny. Castiel didn’t feel in control at all.


	3. Chapter 3

As soon as Sam had left, they started discussing how this could even work and came to the very simple solution that Dean would have to renew the fake bite ever so often. A true mating bite wouldn’t just fade away—but a fake one would, so obviously, they needed to make sure it stayed visible.

If his colleagues should notice that his mating bite changed, they would just think that they were in the honeymoon phase where the alpha couldn’t keep his mouth away from the mating bite, regularly nibbling on it in a possessive display.

As far as living arrangements were concerned, they were officially mates who lived (and slept) together. Unofficially, they were just roommates and Castiel would move into Sam’s old room. He’d bring over his few belongings bit by bit over the next few days.

Once they had figured all of that out, it was time to put the plan into action, meaning that there was nothing left to do but get to work on that ‘mating bite,’ the most essential part of the plan since Castiel couldn’t show up to work tomorrow without one.

Suddenly, he noticed that they were still sitting close together, even though with Sam gone, there was a lot of space on the couch. He should probably have scooted over after Sam had left, but Dean’s scent made him feel comfortable in his presence, even if they were in each other’s personal space.

For his part, Dean didn’t have any problems reaching over to softly graze his thumb over Castiel’s mating gland, checking out what he had to work with.

Castiel felt his face heat up despite himself. This was the first time an alpha was touching him there. He had been so fixated on his career that he hadn’t had time for anything else—like getting to know an alpha well enough to let him touch his mating gland.

Dean’s thumb stroked over his mating gland again and Castiel instinctively bared his neck for him so that he could reach it more easily.

“Okay, here goes nothing,” Dean mumbled and the next second, he leaned in.

His hot breath ghosted over Castiel’s neck just for a moment before his mouth had found his mating gland, and then all bets were off.

Castiel tried to get his racing heart under control to no avail. Dean was so close now that his scent was all-encompassing and yet, Castiel himself had to hold still, couldn’t scent back no matter how much his instincts told him to.

In an attempt to keep his omega in check, he closed his eyes, but that only made it worse. Now, he had nothing else to focus on but the feeling of Dean’s soft lips and tongue on his mating gland, which made it tingle in an unfamiliar way.

So, _that’s_ how it felt to have an alpha suck a hickey onto his mating gland. He probably shouldn’t enjoy the sensation as much as he did, seeing as this wasn’t _real_ intimacy, but rather a means to an end. It became impossible not to enjoy what Dean was doing, though, when he began using his teeth in between broad licks of the tongue.

A little sound escaped his throat as Dean took his mating gland between his teeth and went to town on it. After each careful nibble and bite, Dean’s tongue soothed the skin again.

By the time Dean leaned back, seemingly satisfied with his work, Castiel had come to the conclusion that he might not survive their plan of doing this regularly.

“Yeah, looks good enough to me,” Dean declared, but for some reason, his thumb was back on Castiel’s mating gland, stroking over the tender skin and reawakening that strange tingling sensation. Maybe he was making sure that it could pass for a real mating bite mark.

“Thank you,” Castiel finally managed to get out, and then Dean lowered his hand and suddenly, his mating gland felt neglected without Dean’s hand or mouth on it.

As much as Castiel dreaded the next time they’d have to do this again, he also couldn’t wait for it.

He had quite some trouble falling asleep that night. No wonder, considering how important the meeting with Zachariah the next morning was. Strangely enough, it wasn’t the meeting his thoughts kept coming back to, but his new roommate and pretend mate.

Lying in bed, Castiel’s hand kept touching his neck where Dean’s mark was.

What had he gotten himself into this time?

⁂

Everything went according to plan the next day. Dean’s mark was convincing enough as a mating bite and Castiel got the job. But of course, things were never that easy.

As soon as Michael heard the news, he came up with the great idea to invite a few people over to celebrate (or so he said). Castiel and Dean were supposed to be the guests of honor.

It was pretty obvious that Michael was onto him and wanted to expose him, which was why Castiel declined, using a flimsy excuse. Unfortunately, Zachariah, who was also invited, thought it was a fabulous idea and didn’t take no for an answer. Finally, Castiel had no choice but to agree to bring Dean to Michael’s dinner party this weekend.

The web of lies was about to become more complex. He had hoped that no one would ask too many questions—the only thing he’d need was a fake mating bite on his neck and that would be that. But now they had to come up with a real cover story.

“We don’t know the first thing about each other!” Castiel told Dean that evening while they were having dinner. “They will figure it out and know that I lied and then I’ll lose my job…”

“No one is figuring anything out,” Dean said, calm as ever. Well, he wasn’t the one losing his job if their plan went belly up. “We have plenty of time to tell each other what we need to know, come up with a little white lie about how we met… Hey, we don’t even need a lie. We just say Sam introduced us.” Dean grinned at him, obviously pleased with himself and his great idea for a ‘lie.’

Castiel had been on edge the whole day, ever since he had found out that they weren’t off the hook just yet. But somehow, Dean managed to calm him down effortlessly. It had to be the alpha’s calming scent.

“I’m sorry.” He sighed. “You didn’t sign up for this.” When Dean had offered his help, there had been no talk of accompanying him to any dinner parties.

But Dean just shrugged. “I’m always up for free food.”

“Well, we might have to watch out for _poisoned_ food,” Castiel said. “Michael was not happy he lost to an omega.” The same way Michael had seen through his lies, Castiel had seen right through his façade. He might have smiled and said all the right things, but it had been pretty obvious that he was not a happy alpha.

“He’ll just have to deal,” Dean replied. “Has probably gotten this far just because of his alpha privileges.”

It turned out that finding out things about each other was a lot of fun. That first night, they took turns asking each other questions in a strange game of truth or truth. Even though he wasn’t the best at talking to people, it somehow came easy to him with Dean. They only realized how late it was when he started yawning.

So, they stopped for the night and continued their little ‘getting to know each other’ game the next evening.

By Thursday, Castiel felt that he had told Dean more about his life than he had ever told anyone, and in return, he knew enough about Dean to fake it for one measly dinner party.

Yes, he had thought of everything, they were prepared for every curveball Michael could throw at them, he finally had things under control again…

That’s when Dean chose to casually mention, “We should probably practice kissing and stuff.”


	4. Chapter 4

Ever since Dean had placed that fake mating bite on Cas’ neck, he had hardly been able to think of anything but what kissing that omega would feel like. It didn’t really come as a surprise because—let’s face it—Cas had very kissable lips. What kind of an alpha _wouldn’t_ want to sneak a taste of them?

Plus, never in his life had he met anyone who smelled that nice, so it was really only to be expected that his alpha wanted to caress those delicious lips with his own, maybe feel Cas up a bit while he was at it.

The urge to take Cas’ face between his hands and plant one on him had only become stronger the more he got to know that independent omega who didn’t just roll over and give up, but had the balls to go through with Sam’s ridiculous (and admittedly genius) idea.

The upcoming dinner party they had to attend was just the excuse Dean needed.

He had practiced how to casually mention kissing as if he had just thought of it. So, while they were sitting on the couch watching an alpha and an omega kiss on screen, he brought it up and was happy to note that his voice didn’t betray a thing. No ulterior motives here, no sir. He was just suggesting something so that no one would be on to them. No big deal.

Cas’ eyes widened in response, so Dean quickly added, “They’re gonna expect a newly-mated pair to be affectionate with each other, and we don’t want to look like it’s our first kiss, right?”

“No. Of course not. We should—yes. That. Definitely.”

Dean smiled at Cas’ babbling. The omega tended to do that when he was caught off-guard, and it was kind of cute.

“So,” Cas continued, “do we, uhm… lips?”

“Yes, lips are usually involved when people kiss,” Dean couldn’t help but tease him.

Cas’ eyes flitted away from him, then returned, and then he quickly leaned over to give him a quick peck on the cheek. If there was an award for it, this kiss would no doubt win as the most chaste kiss anyone has ever given another person.

Taking it slow, then.

“That’s quite some affection you’re showing there.” Dean grinned at Cas, but when a rosy blush spread over the omega’s cheeks, he took pity on him and continued, “But here—let’s try this.”

This time, he was the one to lean over, his hand softly grazing Cas’ neck of its own accord before he cupped his cheek in his palm and pulled him closer until their lips gently rested against one another.

As soon as his lips touched Cas’, he moved away half an inch before going in for another kiss, this time prolonging the contact. It was tentative and sweet and oh so careful because of course a first kiss with Cas would be all those things.

And it felt every bit as good as he had imagined.

Emboldened by the fact that Cas started moving his lips minutely, Dean captured Cas’ upper lip between his own, massaging it lightly and eliciting a soft sigh from the omega.

His sweet taste was like nectar and Dean simply couldn’t get enough.

Of course, this would be more than enough as far as kisses in public were concerned, but it wouldn’t hurt to practice using tongue… Just in case…

Dean left Cas’ upper lip alone for the time being and used his tongue to beg for entry instead.

Cas immediately opened his mouth to let Dean’s tongue inside, greeting it with his own. A teasing dance ensued, awakening all kinds of chasing instincts within Dean, even though he had Cas right here in his arms.

This wasn’t the best make-out position anyway, so Dean guided Cas down until he was lying on his back, his head resting on the couch cushion, so that Dean could lie on top of him, lazily kissing him and stroking him, and…

Wait—that wasn’t really a position they’d find themselves in at a dinner party.

Dean sat back up so that Cas wasn’t crowded against the couch anymore and cleared his throat.

“Uhm… so… that should convince them.”

His eyes wandered back to Cas’ lips, all red and tender and glistening with their shared saliva. To make matters worse, Cas licked his lips as if he was chasing Dean’s taste.

“Yes,” Cas agreed. “Good call. With the practicing.” With those words, the omega got up and went to his room.

Damn, but those chasing instincts were coming back with a vengeance!

⁂

Castiel had never felt as weak in the knees as he did when Dean and he shared that ‘practice kiss.’ He hadn’t known that being kissed by someone could feel that amazing!

Of course, such an intense kiss wasn’t appropriate while in public, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t get to enjoy lots of public displays of affection at Michael’s dinner party.

When they arrived at Michael’s place, Castiel was very nervous because Michael would no doubt just wait for them to slip up.

But then Dean just casually took his hand as if they had done that a hundred times, and Castiel’s nerves settled a bit.

Of course, this was just for show, but his omega didn’t need to know that.

Throughout the night, Dean would constantly touch him whenever he noticed that Castiel was feeling uncomfortable talking to all these people: a reassuring hand on his arm when they were standing or on his thigh when they were sitting.

Michael did try to catch them in their lie on more than one occasion, asking personal questions, but Dean always had an answer and somehow made it sound like they were madly in love.

“I’m surprised that I haven’t heard about that liaison sooner,” Michael said in that snooty voice of his shortly after they had arrived.

“Yeah, well, Castiel hasn’t talked about you a lot, either,” Dean retorted. “Isn’t this the first time he’s ever been to your house?”

Castiel couldn’t help but smile at the way Dean handled himself. The way he had phrased it made it clear that they knew exactly why Michael had invited them over all of a sudden. And Dean was right: Castiel really wasn’t close enough to Michael to have mentioned their relationship.

That round went to them as Michael just shot them a dark look while his face did a strange thing where he forced his lips into a poor imitation of a smile.

“Well, it was about time then,” he said, stilted.

Luckily, Dean had some more tricks up his sleeve and he nuzzled against Castiel’s neck until Michael huffed and went away.

All in all, Dean was really good at pretending to be the perfect mate. He’d say things like, “Oh God, you _have_ to try this pie!” and then proceed to hand feed him a piece, letting Castiel lick every last bit off his index finger before Castiel could be embarrassed about being so… couply in front of his colleagues.

As it turned out, he didn’t have to worry, seeing as no one was around to observe them anyway since the party had migrated to the living room at that point. Staying in character even when the others weren’t around was a genius move on Dean’s part. After all, they never knew when someone might walk in on them.

Each gentle touch and secret smile Dean gave him awakened a flutter of butterflies deep within him, making it hard to pay attention to what people were saying.

More and more often, he had to remind himself that this wasn’t real. Dean only did that to throw Michael off the scent.

Still, there was no harm in reciprocating while he had the chance. He found himself leaning in without consciously thinking about it to scent Dean whenever he needed the reassurance, and the evening passed much more quickly than he had expected. Too quickly even, since once they were back home, he wouldn’t get to have his hands all over Dean anymore.

Castiel was just on his way to the bathroom when he heard Raphael’s voice drifting over from the hall.

“… thought so too, but did you see them instinctively scent each other? No way to fake that.”

From the sound of it, their charade seemed to be working. Raphael had probably picked up on Castiel’s ever-growing infatuation with Dean.

Not wanting to be caught eavesdropping, he quickly made his way to the bathroom.

Raphael was right, he _was_ instinctively scenting Dean, which might become a problem. After all, there was no reason for him to do that when no one was around.

When he returned to the dining room, his heart skipped a beat when he saw Dean talking to Balthazar. Balthazar knew him better than Michael and his clique of alphas—if anyone could tell that Dean didn’t know Castiel, it was him.

Dean automatically put his arm around Castiel when he joined them and didn’t falter in his story about how Castiel had fallen asleep on the couch right at the most exciting part of the movie, which meant that Dean had had to recap it, making both of them miss the plot twist and leave them utterly confused by the ending.

That had happened a couple of days ago, but the way Dean was telling it, it sounded like it had happened years ago and Dean had been telling the story ever since.

“You said you didn’t mind,” Castiel grumbled because Dean _had_ said that and he hoped that the alpha didn’t think watching a movie with him was inconvenient.

“I didn’t, babe. It was very sweet,” Dean reassured him, with a quick peck to his cheek.

Balthazar seemed placated by that public display of affection. But just to be sure, Castiel returned the favor and kissed Dean back.

Never in a million years would Castiel have thought that he’d actually end up _enjoying_ the evening. It had all been thanks to Dean.

He was a bit sad when they said their goodbyes and were back in the Impala on their way home.

“I think that went well,” Dean said after a few minutes of silence. “They seem to have bought it.”

The way he kept glancing at Castiel told him that the alpha had picked up on his change in mood. Since he couldn’t complain about not getting to be all touchy-feely with Dean anymore now that they weren’t surrounded by people who believed them to be mates, Castiel quickly forced those thoughts out of his head and smiled.

“Yes. You are a very good actor.”

Somehow, that didn’t seem to be quite what Dean had wanted to hear. By now, Castiel could spot one of Dean’s fake smiles from a mile away—and the one that was now on his face was definitely not that open, honest smile Castiel had come to love.


	5. Chapter 5

After the successful dinner party, they should have been out of the woods. But of course they weren’t. Michael wasn’t someone who gave up easily.

“There’s a private investigator camped out in front of our house,” Dean said when he came home from the garage the next day.

Castiel was sitting on the couch with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate. “What?!”

Now Michael was going too far! What about their privacy?

“Yeah, we might want to close the drapes.” Dean didn’t seem too bothered, but just went about his usual routine, getting ready to take a shower.

Castiel, for his part, was starting to freak out, and by the time Dean came out of the bathroom, he had come up with the only solution that could get them out of this new pickle. Now, convincing Dean of it might take some work, though.

He took a deep breath and started, “I think I should sleep in your room tonight.”

“Okay.”

“I mean, that private investigator is obviously here to gather evidence against us, and we should not give him any ammunition…”

“Yeah, I agree.”

“We should make sure there’s nothing for him to find. I mean, yes, it might be a bit inconvenient, but if we can get rid of him…”

“Cas!” Dean interrupted his babbling. “You’re right. Go get your stuff. There’s plenty of room in my bed.”

Oh. That had been easier than expected. Well, his arguments _were_ pretty convincing… Wait— _bed_?

He had been prepared to throw a blanket on the floor and settle in for an uncomfortable night. But if Dean was willing to share his bed, he wasn’t going to say no.

⁂

He really should have said no. After all the touching, kissing, and scenting the day before, his omega was confused enough as it was. But lying in bed next to Dean? That was definitely a new form of torture.

He continuously had to keep his omega from snuggling up against the alpha, maybe scenting him a bit while he was at it because Dean’s scent was all around him and driving him slowly insane.

“Would you stop fidgeting?!” Dean groused.

“I can’t find a comfortable position.” Mostly because every time he found himself drifting closer to Dean, he had to roll back over and away from him. He knew of a comfortable position, but he doubted Dean would be thrilled if he suddenly had a handful of omega snuggled up against him.

Dean sighed and then Castiel yelped when an arm was flung across his midsection and he was being pulled flush against the alpha’s side. He held himself perfectly still, hardly daring to breathe.

“There. I can keep you from tossing and turning,” Dean mumbled.

“Uhm. O-okay. I’ll just lie here then.”

His heart was beating frantically against his ribcage. There was only one sentence running through his head on repeat. _Dean was holding him in his arms. He was holding him_ in his arms _._ With no audience around.

Maybe he could dare turn his head ever so slightly to… There. Now he could take in even more of Dean’s awesome scent. He breathed in deeply and felt himself relax.

Closing his eyes, he let Dean’s scent engulf him, the alpha’s hand on his hip a warm and welcome weight grounding him.

⁂

Was Cas friggen kidding him here?! He just started scenting as if this was no big deal. As if you just randomly scented alphas while in bed with them.

Every puff of air against his scent gland made him want to pull Cas closer, snug against him. They were already in a sort of cuddle position, but Dean was careful not to move his hands, even though every instinct in him was telling him to stroke along that omega’s arms and hips and anything he could reach, really.

Soon, Cas had fallen asleep against his side, still scenting, even in his sleep.

Damn, but that omega was cute! And here Dean was, having indecent thoughts that were most definitely not part of their arrangement.

He would not try to seduce Cas just to satiate his alpha’s sexual needs!

It wasn’t just sexual satisfaction his alpha longed for, though, so giving in just this one time, Dean kissed the top of Cas’ head in a platonic ‘hey, bro!’ way. Cas of course, still sound asleep, didn’t get the message that Dean had just dude-bro kissed him and simply sighed contently in his sleep.

⁂

The whole stress of working a 50-hour week meant that Castiel hadn’t been able to sleep through the night in so long, he couldn’t even remember when the last time was he’d gotten a good night’s sleep.

Somehow, falling asleep in Dean’s bed and arms had been just what he needed. Maybe it was Dean’s calming scent or the way he had held him so tightly… Whatever it was, Castiel had slept through the night like a pup.

Even the wake-up experience was so much better. Usually when he woke up, he just went through the motions, just another day he had to get through. This time, though, he was in a good mood from the moment he opened his eyes. They had changed positions in their sleep so that Castiel was now using Dean as a full body pillow.

“Morning,” Dean rumbled, his voice sexy with sleep, and Castiel quickly let go of him.

If it was up to him, that private investigator could stick around for a while.

They had breakfast together as always, but with the knowledge that they might be watched through the window, they put on their fake mate act.

Dean would lean over to use his thumb and remove a crumb from the corner of Castiel’s mouth. And of course, mates would kiss a lot during breakfast, so that’s what they did as well.

It started out with quick closed-mouth kisses, but somehow they got competitive over it and it ended with Castiel climbing onto Dean’s lap while tongues got involved.

Dean was such a good kisser that kissing him had an addictive quality.

The downside of putting on such a convincing show was that it got hot and heavy, which meant that kissing wasn’t enough anymore. Somewhere while their kisses had turned heated, Castiel’s hand had found its way underneath Dean’s shirt, feeling the muscles ripple beneath his touch.

That’s when Castiel realized that this show they put on for an investigator who might or might not be watching was turning him on, and he reluctantly climbed off Dean’s lap before things could get embarrassing.

Dean looked at him, stunned.

“That will show Michael to send a private investigator after us,” Castiel said, reminding Dean of why they had just been making out at the breakfast table. It had nothing to do with the fact that Dean had looked irresistible and that Castiel had wanted to kiss him again ever since they had shared their last kiss at Michael’s place.

Dean cleared his throat. “Yeah. That’s—yeah.”

⁂

Reasons why Dean should _not_ fuck Cas:

  * Cas meant more to him than a quick roll in the sheets.
  * Things would get awkward between them after and they still had to live together for months to come.
  * Sam would never forgive him if he got it on with a coworker he still had to work with after Dean had given him his knot.
  * Cas was rather naïve. He might not know that by feeling up an alpha and kissing him like that he was sending signals of ‘down to fuck.’
  * It was _fake_! They were _faking_ it. _Cas_ was faking it, that’s what this whole deal was about. He wasn’t sleeping in Dean’s bed because that’s where he wanted to be, but because they had to fool that investigator who was spying on them.



Still, inadvertent as it might be, Cas just kept teasing his alpha and he was quickly becoming sexually frustrated. He needed to find relief or else his blue balls would be killing him. Or he might end up forgetting about all the reasons why he shouldn’t, and fuck the shit out of that little tease of an omega regardless.

So, he broached the subject that evening while they were getting ready for bed. “What about sex?”

Right on cue, Cas choked and spit the toothpaste into the sink. “What?!”

“I mean, we’ll have to stay fake mated for a while. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to give up sex for that long. I say, as long as we’re being discreet, there’s no harm in… you know. Finding someone to blow off some steam with.”

Cas blinked at him, but didn’t say anything for a few long seconds. “What about the private investigator?” he finally asked.

Dean shrugged. “I know how to get rid of someone following me.”

“Well then. Seems like you have it all figured out.”

With those words, Cas walked off toward the bedroom. Obviously, he didn’t trust Dean not to get caught.

When Dean joined him in the bed, the omega had his back turned to him, giving off clear ‘don’t touch me’ vibes. Damn! Dean had hoped for a repeat performance from last night, holding Cas and cuddling for a bit.

“They won’t find out,” Dean tried to placate the omega. “I’ll be careful.”

But Cas didn’t answer, too busy pretending to be asleep.

“Good night,” Dean said regardless and turned off the lights.

Something in his chest ached and he wanted to reach out and pull Cas back into his arms where he belonged. He had to ignore those instincts, though. Cas clearly didn’t want to be held right now, and Dean had to respect that.

Since looking at the omega’s stiff back only made the ache in his chest worse, Dean turned around, too.

There was way too much space between them and it took him a long time to fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to write some fluff, but somehow here is where the chapter ended. I’m a bit nervous about your reaction. I hope you like the chapter anyway. And you know I’ll make it all better soon. ❤️


	6. Chapter 6

Typical alpha! Dean couldn’t even go a few weeks without knotting some omega slut! (Okay, months, but his point still stood.)

Castiel wasn’t quite sure why he was so angry. If he were rational about this, he might admit that he really couldn’t expect Dean to give up sex for the duration of their fake mating. But he didn’t feel like being rational right now.

For some reason, the thought of Dean in bed with another omega didn’t sit right with him.

Giving Dean the cold shoulder had felt vindicating at first. He wanted to make the alpha feel bad because _he_ had hurt _him_.

Lying in bed, his back to Dean, he wished he hadn’t reacted that way. He felt cold where he could be held by Dean’s strong arms instead like the night before.

How could he feel so lonely when he was in bed together with another person?

⁂

Apparently, Dean’s way of dealing with uncomfortable situations was to pretend nothing was going on. He didn’t mention the fight, so naturally, Castiel didn’t either.

But after dinner, Dean took his keys and said, “I’m heading out.”

Since Castiel wasn’t his real mate, he could do nothing but fake a smile and say, “Have fun,” even though he hoped Dean didn’t have fun, not even a little bit.

Some lucky omega out there got to touch and scent Dean, and then Dean would come home reeking of that omega, and Castiel just wanted to cry.

Dean was supposed to be _Castiel’s_ fake mate. They should pretend to be monogamous!

He tried to concentrate on his book, but his thoughts kept drifting back to Dean and whether he had already found an omega to ‘blow off some steam’ with.

What hurt the most was that Dean obviously didn’t want to ‘blow off steam’ with Castiel.

After all, Castiel was right here—but apparently, not good enough for Dean who wanted to go out to find someone else to have intercourse with.

Castiel on the other hand was just the omega he was fake mated to, not someone Dean would consider being intimate with. He probably liked omegas who got all of his references and enjoyed talking about cars.

There was no way Castiel would wait around for Dean to come back smelling of sex and some strange omega, so he decided to turn in early, retreating to his own room, private investigators be damned.

After all, he couldn’t stomach sleeping right next to Dean, who had just been intimate with some other omega.

Falling asleep was, of course, close to impossible. Castiel kept tossing and turning, and every time he tried to get his mind off of Dean, his thoughts just circled right back.

He wondered if Dean was being all cuddly with the omega. If he was knotting him—or her. Maybe he preferred female omegas. Were they lying in bed right now, and Dean was holding the omega the way he had held Castiel? Probably. Dean was a very affectionate alpha, after all.

Was it just a one-night stand or was it someone Dean had a sexual relationship with and he just called that omega up whenever he wanted to ‘blow off steam’?

And—most importantly—why did Castiel even care? He was using Dean so that he wouldn’t get fired. He had gotten what he wanted: He’d gotten promoted over Michael. Now all he needed to do was keep a low profile until he could fake un-mate Dean, and they could go their separate ways.

Dean could sleep with all the omegas in the world for all he cared!

Okay, so, that might be a lie. That was what he _should_ be feeling.

He heard the front door open. Dean was finally back from his night out.

Well, at least it was over… Until the next time he felt the need for sexual release.

If Castiel had to feel like this every night (or even just some nights), he might just admit to Zachariah what he had done and quit his job just so that he could get away from all of this.

⁂

Living with Cas and being fake mated to him had been going so well, and all of a sudden, things were strained.

The day before, breakfast had ended in a hot make-out session, and today, the conversation was stilted at best.

So, when dinner didn’t go any better, Dean decided to drive around for a bit to clear his mind. Blasting his favorite Led Zeppelin song, he drove Baby along country roads, which finally managed to calm him down.

Dean wasn’t really a fan of celibacy, but if Cas was so worried about getting caught in their lie, he might be able to abstain and take care of his urges by himself.

He couldn’t believe that he was even considering this, but this was _Cas_ , and he really didn’t want things between them to be awkward.

It might be hard (pun intended), but at least Cas wouldn’t get it on with any alphas either, which was a reassuring thought.

When he came back home, he was looking forward to making up with Cas, which might mean that they could pretend-cuddle again. It should maybe worry him that he was more excited about that prospect than he had been about having sex with some omega.

Only, Cas was nowhere to be seen. Dean had been gone for quite a while, so the omega might very well have gone to bed already, but the bedroom was empty, too.

Finally, he went to knock on Cas’ door.

⁂

He would have expected Dean to at least have the decency to go shower first, but instead, there was a knock on his door. (He had probably showered at the omega’s place—a thought that didn’t placate Castiel in the slightest.)

“Cas? You in there?” Dean’s voice came through the door.

He should pretend to be asleep. He did not want to talk to Dean. Smelling the omega on him would probably make him nauseous.

But Dean was persistent and just opened the door even without an answer, and even though Castiel could have still pretended, he turned on the bedside lamp instead and sat up in bed. If he couldn’t fall asleep, he might as well confront the reason for his sleepless night.

“What’re you doing in here?” Dean asked, completely oblivious to Castiel’s inner turmoil and to the fact that he was responsible for it. “We switchin’ rooms?”

“No, we are not ‘switching rooms,’” Castiel replied. “I just didn’t feel like smelling omega in our bed— _your_ bed,” he quickly corrected himself.

“Smelling omega? What’re you talking about, man?”

Castiel really didn’t feel like spelling out what should be obvious, so he just sighed and said, “Forget it. I just think we can sleep in our own rooms again.”

“Nah. That private investigator is still there. Saw him just before I came in.”

“Well, then he probably saw you step out on your so-called ‘mate’ anyway.”

“Yeah… about that…” Dean took a couple of steps closer. “I mean, I could totally lose a tail. But maybe it’s better not to take the chance.”

Dean looked a bit bashful, and Castiel tried to parse through what the alpha had just said. It almost sounded like…

“Anyway, he wasn’t following me. But if he _had_ , he wouldn’t have seen me cheat on my mate. I was just driving around a bit, making sure Baby is doing okay.”

Dean hadn’t kissed and scented and cuddled (and more) another omega tonight, after all. After spending hours worrying about that, it was like a weight had been lifted off Castiel’s chest.

“I—really?” he asked because he knew that _he_ was being the unreasonable one here.

He really shouldn’t ask Dean, who was already doing so much for him, to give up that part as well.

“Yeah,” Dean said. “But if we’re not taking any chances here, we should definitely sleep together. I mean in the same bed. Like we did the last couple of nights. Not _sleep_ together, of course. Just sleep together…”

Castiel smiled brightly at Dean’s babbling. Now that he knew Dean hadn’t just spent the evening with another omega, he couldn’t think of a better way to end the night but by falling asleep next to the alpha.

“Yes, let’s go to bed,” he said and got up to follow Dean to his bedroom, which was slowly starting to become ‘their’ bedroom.

⁂

Making up with Cas really was so much more important than getting his dick wet.

Having Cas back in his bed felt right on so many levels. No ‘don’t touch me’ vibe coming off of Cas this time. Instead, the omega actually inched closer to him, and if those weren’t ‘hug me’ signals he was sending—well, then tough because Dean was pulling him into his arms anyway.

If they couldn’t get it on with anyone because of their status as fake mates, they only had each other to provide physical contact after all. So, hugging was definitely on the table. And if it happened while they were lying in bed next to each other? Well, horizontal hugging had never hurt anyone.

He might just stroke along Cas’ sides a bit, just to make it real convincing in case that private eye came bursting through the door.

As excuses went, that one seemed a bit flimsy, but plausible deniability was all he needed in case Cas asked about why he was all but cuddling him. He didn’t ask, though, so Dean got bold and scent marked him. That was absolutely something mates would do.

Cas didn’t seem to realize. He was probably half asleep anyway. That was the only explanation for why the omega would nuzzle against him in response.

Yeah—if Dean got to have _this_ , then he didn’t even mind all that much that he had to give up sex for a while.


	7. Chapter 7

The bite on Cas’ neck began to fade, which was so not something they should let happen.

Cas didn’t bring it up, though, so it was on Dean to suggest some necking—uhm… professional bite renewal.

Naturally, he waited until they were in bed together once more because that just seemed like the most comfortable position to be biting at Cas’ neck for a while.

The first time, it had just been a little bit of fun because he had just met this omega who was hot as hell and smelled awesome, and nibbling on his mating gland had seemed like a great idea.

Now, though, he had gotten to know and like Cas. This wasn’t about fake mating some hot omega—this was about getting close and personal with _Cas’_ mating gland, which was thrilling for a whole different set of reasons.

Dean used his thumb to gently stroke over the gland in order to see if it was receptive to his touch and ready to be played with. The blush that followed his touch might just be spreading down from Cas’ cheeks, though. The omega was holding himself very still, not saying a word. But Dean thought he had heard him gasp softly, which he took as a good sign.

He used his other hand to firmly tilt the omega’s head to the side, exposing his throat for better access, and then he leaned in, taking a quick whiff from Cas’ scent gland on his way before he pressed his lips against his mating gland in a tender kiss. If you could even call that a kiss—he pretty much just rested his lips against Cas’ skin, enjoying the contact and drawing it out just because.

After a while, he let his tongue join the action, but again, he only used it to softly stroke the omega’s mating gland, treating it kindly because Cas seemed to appreciate that.

Leaving it alone for a second to blow across it sounded like a great idea, so he did it, reveling in the fact that he could feel Cas shudder in his arms and press himself closer. Granted, that wasn’t strictly necessary for faking a mating bite, but it was something he knew drove omegas wild, so after another broad lick, he did it again.

He got competitive with himself then, trying to see if he could get Cas’ mating gland to secrete mating hormones. Just as an experiment, of course. Just because his alpha would be very proud of himself if he managed that.

That’s how he ended up half on top of Cas to get a better angle, teasing that mating gland relentlessly by alternating between licking it, blowing on it and finally giving it a good nibble. Taking it between his teeth, he sucked on it gently before releasing it, effectively turning Cas into a whimpering mess.

His scent was now so sweet and inviting that there was no doubt about it: Dean had succeeded in his mission. Oh yeah. This omega was absolutely ready to be mated.

Since Dean couldn’t do what his alpha instincts told him to (roll that omega over and have his way with him), he doubled down on massaging his mating gland with his tongue instead.

A softly whispered “Dean!” had him pause to look down at Cas, whose eyes were now a fascinating mix between blue and gold.

“You know,” the omega said, still in that low voice, “many mates have matching mating bites.”

It took Dean a second to understand what he was getting at and by that time, Cas had already started explaining what he meant. Apparently, someone at work had insinuated that it was strange that Dean didn’t have a mating bite of his own.

“Maybe if you had a fake mating bite, too, we wouldn’t have to worry about people seeing you without one,” Cas finished after stumbling his way through that explanation.

That made sense, so Dean shrugged his shoulders and said, “Have at it,” while rolling off Cas so that he could bare his own neck.

⁂

Castiel couldn’t believe that his little white lie about some work colleague’s jibe had actually worked. Yes, there were mated pairs that bit _each other_ , but there were just as many where the omega was the only one wearing a mating bite (and only very few where the alpha was the only one).

But here Dean was, inviting him to fake a mating bite on the alpha’s mating gland.

Sucking a hickey onto it was very exciting because—well, this was _Dean_ and Castiel’s omega had been dying to get his teeth on his neck in return.

Somewhere along the line, Dean began reciprocating again, too, which meant that they were pretty much just mouthing along each other’s necks, trying to one up each other, revving each other up more and more in the process.

Of course, this was all in the name of making it look good. Convincing. It had to look like a real mating bite, after all.

Letting his omega out to play with Dean’s alpha was maybe a bit risky. He knew what he wanted: Get that alpha to _really_ sink his teeth into Castiel’s mating gland, end all that ‘fake mate’ business and make it real.

Putting a stop to it would be the logical thing to do. But that tingling sensation was just too addictive. It spread from his mating gland to his belly, reawakening those butterflies deep within like only Dean could.

Every so often the alpha would let up a bit to thumb across the ‘mating bite,’ driving Castiel positively insane with the need for more. Maybe some naked cuddling.

He didn’t know who had started it, but suddenly, there was kissing involved. Dean was back on top of him, which awakened even more instincts within him that were hard to suppress. Usually, baring your throat was a pretty clear way of signaling to an alpha that you wanted to take things further. But of course, Castiel’s throat was already bared for fake mating bite purposes.

Showing an alpha your belly was another way of inviting intimacy. But again, he was already lying on his back with Dean blanketing him.

That pretty much left him with giving Dean The Look. Bedroom eyes were absolutely a thing. Trying his best to look like an omega an alpha might want to cuddle more intimately, he blinked up at Dean and bit his lower lip—something he had seen omegas in movies do. It usually worked out for them.

But Dean just ducked down to kiss his lips again. While that was a nice intimate gesture, it wasn’t quite what Castiel had in mind.

“Dean,” he started, but at that moment, Dean’s cell phone rang.

“Dammit,” the alpha mumbled.

⁂

Dean really wanted to ignore that stupid cell phone, but it just kept ringing and destroying all the hard work he had put in getting Cas in the mood for more.

Sam. Typical for his interrupting moose of a brother.

“This better be good,” he grumbled while getting out of bed because talking to his brother was kind of weird while lying on top of Cas. “You know that you’re not supposed to call people up in the middle of the night.”

_“Uhm… it’s nine o’clock.”_

“Nine _thirty_ ,” Dean corrected him, making his way to the living room for some privacy so that he could ream Sam out. “And everyone knows you don’t call after nine.”

Not when Dean had an omega in his bed who he was making out with. Especially not if that omega was Cas!

 _“Anyway… I have good news. I think I may have found a way for Cas to keep his job without being mated. Or, you know,_ pretend _mated.”_

What?! Hadn’t Sam said something about how it would take _months_?! Why was there all of a sudden some magical way that would let Cas keep his job without Dean’s help?

They hadn’t even talked about what they would do once the supposed _year_ was up. Would Cas just move out again? And what about—

_“Dean? You still there?”_

“Yeah, look, this really isn’t a good time for me. I’ll call you back.”

Before Sam could so much as say good-bye, he had hung up on him.


	8. Chapter 8

When Dean came back into the bedroom, Cas was still lying cozily in their nest, looking so domestic that his heart gave a curious lurch.

“Thank you for the—” Cas touched his neck where his mating gland was bright red from where Dean had nibbled on it.

“Yeah, no problem,” Dean said as he turned off his cell phone before putting it back on the nightstand.

Sam would probably tell Cas all about how he’d found a possible way out for him tomorrow. For tonight, there was really no reason to unsettle Cas, so when the omega asked about the phone call, he just waved him off.

Of course, this also meant that this night might be the last time they got to ‘renew’ the bite. Granted, it already looked like a perfect mating bite from his earlier efforts, but you could never be too well prepared.

“I think we should make it look like a bite of passion,” Dean said as he joined Cas in the bed again.

“Bite of passion,” Cas repeated, a frown on his face.

“Yeah. This looks too… forced. We’re supposed to be _mates_. You’d be on your belly and I’d be on you and take you by the neck…” God, yes, that sounded just like what he wanted to do!

Cas swallowed and Dean’s eyes were immediately drawn to his Adam’s apple.

“Yes,” the omega said and cleared his throat. “How would we fake that?”

“Well, we’d have to recreate the position, I guess.”

“Oh.” Cas was looking at him all wide-eyed, and Dean thought for sure that he had pushed too far this time, but then Cas scrambled to turn around and lie down on his stomach.

The perfect image of an omega ready to be claimed.

⁂

Castiel had been sure that the phone call would put an end to… whatever it was they had been doing. Somehow, it had seemed to go far beyond faking a mating bite.

His inner omega had felt like Dean had _claimed_ him, which had given him all kinds of excited, fluttery feelings he had no idea how to describe, much less what to do about them.

So, when Dean suggested a fake bite of passion, he quickly got onto his stomach because faking a sex position with Dean was absolutely something he was on board with.

“Should I present?”

Dean was quiet for a moment, so Castiel looked over his shoulder at him.

“Yeah. That’s…” Dean said, voice all raspy, before he trailed off. “And I’d hold onto your hips,” he then said and did just that. Unfortunately, his PJs were in the way so that Castiel couldn’t feel Dean’s hands directly on his skin.

But that was okay because at that moment, Dean did what he had originally suggested, and leaned forward to take him by the neck.

Castiel could just imagine what that would be like if they were naked. Dean would use the grip he had on his neck to hold him in place as he penetrated him, pulling him onto his cock until he was buried inside of Castiel.

“I think it would be more authentic if we lost our shirts,” Castiel suggested. “You’d have better access to my neck that way.”

“Good thinkin’!” Dean agreed and helped him out of his shirt before shedding his own. Luckily, he didn’t question why he had to get rid of his shirt as well since ‘better access to Castiel’s neck’ didn’t really apply.

That excuse, at least, was true. Dean did have more room to work with, nibbling all along his neck.

After a while, the position became too difficult to uphold and they collapsed in a pile of limbs, Dean on top of him.

Dean’s skin against his own felt amazing! As did his mouth that was _still_ teasing his mating gland, getting Castiel ready to be mated once more. Castiel’s poor omega had to be very confused. Always being teased into secreting mating hormones, but never being mated for real.

The fake bite had to look very convincing by now, but there was no way Castiel would tell Dean to stop.

If he wasn’t imagining things, he was picking up on alpha arousal in Dean’s scent… and underneath, there was something else. Something he had never smelled in Dean’s scent before.

“Oh, you’ve gotta be _kidding_ me!” Dean swore and rolled off Castiel.

“What?” Castiel asked and rolled over too, so that he could look at Dean.

“My rut’s coming on.”

Rut. Of course. That’s why his scent was, if possible, even more alluring.

“Uhm…” Dean said, putting some distance between them. “I guess that means separate rooms and separate beds.”

What—Dean was throwing him _out_?!

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Castiel protested. “Mates spend an alpha’s rut together. I should take off work and we should hole up together.”

They hadn’t talked about what to do during their mating cycles, even though now that the situation presented itself, he realized that they really should have.

Dean was putting on his shirt again, which was a shame. He should be _taking off_ clothes, not put them back on.

“If we ‘hole up’ here together, my alpha’s gonna want to do a whole lot more to you than just sleep next to you,” Dean said. Before Castiel could reassure him that his omega would be more than okay with that, the alpha went on, “Look—we might not even have to keep this going for much longer. Sam said something on the phone… He might have something that might get us out of this whole charade. So…”

Charade?

Wait—Dean wanted to _stop_?

Of _course_ he did. He had only wanted to help Castiel out.

He had been very convincing, though. That ‘bite of passion’ had certainly been passionate. It could have fooled Castiel into believing Dean was maybe interested in more, too. After all, he kept prepping him for a mating bite.

But Dean apparently wanted to get rid of him here.

Feeling petty, Castiel said, “So, you want to risk our whole cover because Sam _might_ have something that _might_ ‘get us out of this’?”

Dean sighed. “What do you want me to do here?” he asked, running a hand through his hair. “I can feel how my alpha wants to pounce on you and I… I’ll be in here rubbing my dick raw for the next few days because we have this whole ‘no sex with other people’ rule. So, I really don’t think you can expect me to stay sane while I’m in rut and in bed with my fake _mate_.”

“Well, if your alpha wants to pounce on me, I say we let him.”

Dean blinked at him once, twice, and then quickly shook his head as if he had to try and make sense of what Castiel had said. “What?!”

“What are fake mates for?”

“I’m pretty sure not _that_ ,” Dean mumbled and then sighed again. “Look, you do realize that I can’t _fake_ fuck you, right?”

Castiel decided to keep the comment that they’d kind of been doing that earlier to himself.

“There’s no pretending,” Dean went on. “You spend my rut with me, you’re gonna get fucked in the ass. Repeatedly.”

“Yes, I know how ruts work, thank you.” If Dean wanted to scare him off by being crass, he’d have to come up with a better technique.

There was a beat of silence. Then Dean asked, “And you still think it’s a good idea to stay?”

“It’s really the only thing that makes sense. Feel free to pounce on me any time.”

As soon as he had spoken those words, Dean was on him again, kissing him deeply and pushing him down into the cushions. Finally. Convincing an alpha in rut to have sex with you shouldn’t be _that_ difficult.

This alpha was on a mission and soon, they had stripped out of their PJs, and Castiel felt his ass slick in anticipation.

Then, finally, while Dean was still seducing him with long, open-mouthed kisses, the alpha’s cock found Castiel’s hole and pushed inside.

Their eyes locked during the moment of penetration. Dean’s rut was really starting now, his eyes red with the need to fuck an omega, and then the alpha proceeded to do just that, pulling out and thrusting back inside with an animalistic growl, seeking out Castiel’s mouth with his own once more before he began fucking him for real.

“God, you feel so good,” he mumbled as he delivered another harsh thrust.

They would be able to ‘fake’ the bite of passion so much better now, even though Castiel wasn’t presenting and Dean wasn’t taking him from behind.

With that thought, Castiel bared his throat to make Dean aware of his plan.

The alpha understood and immediately went for his neck to bite at it some more.

While Dean’s cock was busy sliding in and out of him, Castiel’s own was weeping with pre-come. But when he tried to reach for it, Dean caught his hand and pushed it up above his head where he kept it in a loose grip.

“Not yet,” he said, pounding his ass at a more ferocious pace.

His ass got even fuller when Dean’s knot was pushed in and out too.

Castiel made another attempt to get to his own dick, using his free hand, but he was intercepted again, and now Dean had both of his arms pinned above his head.

The tingling in his ass got almost too much, and Castiel could feel his balls pull up tight. He was oh so close!

Dean bit down on his mating gland one more time as his cock continued fucking his ass, and that was it.

Castiel came all over his stomach, and a moment later, the alpha’s seed was released deep inside of him.

While Dean continued to dump his load, he let out a low, drawn-out groan and then he knotted Castiel almost as an afterthought.

Wow. He had just had sex with his fake mate. With _Dean_.

“Now, _that_ is a real convincing bite of passion,” Dean said as he traced the bite on Castiel’s neck gently.


	9. Chapter 9

Fake biting Cas while in rut and while he was _inside_ of him was amazing! He’d make sure that everyone would know just who this omega’s mate was. Well, fake mate, but no one needed to know that part.

He continued playing with Cas’ mating gland while fucking him again later because the fantasy of mating this omega for real was exciting and stimulating for his alpha on so many levels. And because Cas looked so great with his fake mating bite on his neck. As fake as the mating bite might be, it was at least a real claim.

Since he was in rut, he couldn’t keep his alpha from asserting his claim on the omega with possessive displays. That’s why he lived out the fantasy they had acted out earlier by taking Cas from behind and biting his neck to hold him in place while he was filling him up once more, making sure the omega had to take it all.

Afterwards, when they were cuddling in bed together, he licked the bite mark lovingly and then looked Cas deep in the eyes and said, “You’re the best fake mate ever.”

He really was. What other fake mate would let Dean fuck him through his rut?

Cas stared back at him for a moment, looking debauched and disheveled and so perfect. “Let’s pretend we’re real mates,” he suggested, his voice all fucked out and hoarse. “Just for tonight.”

That was a strange suggestion since pretending to be real mates was kind of what fake mates were all about. But Dean was definitely on board with taking this game to the next level, so he corrected his earlier statement to, “You’re the best mate ever.”

The statement was still true. Not just because Cas was willing to bend over for him and take his cock and knot, but because Dean was so ridiculously in love with this omega that he wouldn’t mind (fake) kissing and (fake) cuddling and (fake) fucking him for the rest of his life.

The omega blushed adorably at the compliment and mumbled, “You’re not so bad yourself.”

Not so bad? Yeah, okay, Dean would take it. Maybe one day he could convince Cas that he was more than a ‘not so bad’ mate. That he was, in fact, a mate Cas would like to stick around. And then they could stay fake mated forever.

“Hey, since we’re mated and all, want to make out?” Dean asked, waggling his eyebrows.

“I think we can do more than make out,” Cas replied and when he shimmied down to take the tip of Dean’s cock into his mouth, Dean forgot all about how this was supposed to be ‘fake’ because it was suddenly (or not so sudden at all) very real to him.

⁂

The bite on his neck made him feel connected to Dean in a weird way, and every time the alpha touched it with gentle fingers or kissed it affectionately, an electric shock went through him, and the longing to be Dean’s real mate grew.

Of course, Dean fucked him a lot, but while doing so and in between rounds, the alpha explored his whole body with feather-light kisses, sending Castiel’s nerve endings into a frenzy of sensation. A stroke of his inner wrist or a nibble on his earlobe sparked a whole load of tingling sensations he hadn’t known possible.

While fucking into him, Dean also liked to hold hands and intertwine their fingers, which was intimate in a way that made his omega feel wanted, and not just in a sexual way, especially when Dean stopped moving and brought his hand up to his mouth to kiss his knuckles gently.

Pretending to be real mates even in the bedroom with no one else around gave Castiel everything he wished for, at least for one night, and he would make the most of it.

He tried holding it in by biting his lip, but in the end, he let the “Love you!” slip out. It was, after all, something you would tell your mate while making love.

“God, you too,” Dean answered, still in character, as he leaned down to kiss him again. “So much.”

Castiel’s whole world would come crashing down once Dean’s rut was over and their little game of play-pretend would come to its inevitable end. But for now, he soaked up all of Dean’s affections. For now, he was just Dean’s mate, in love with his alpha and being loved in return.

⁂

“Oh, I can’t _believe_ he’s there _again_!” Dean said, looking out the window.

It was their last day of rut leave, even though Dean’s alpha had calmed down considerably the night before and Dean was now officially out of rut. Secretly, Castiel hoped he could rope Dean into another round of lovemaking tonight. Maybe he could say that it was too close to Dean’s rut, which meant his alpha and Castiel’s omega still needed some playtime together…

“Who’s there again?” Castiel asked, distracted by coming up with possible excuses for why they needed to keep doing what they had been doing the last few days, even though no one was in rut or heat. 

“That damned private eye! That’s it! I’m going to give him a piece of my mind!”

Dean stormed off and Castiel quickly followed him to make sure his day didn’t end with him helping Dean hide the body of a dead detective.

The alpha had been in a bad mood all day. Shouldn’t he be in a _good_ mood shortly after his rut? Especially since he had gotten laid. A lot.

Castiel would take it personally, but foul mood or not, Dean was very attentive, had kissed him good morning and good mid-morning and good almost noon… and Castiel’s omega was thrilled that the kisses hadn’t stopped just because Dean’s rut was over.

Dean had crossed the road and was knocking on the window of the car.

As soon as the (quite frankly worst undercover) detective had rolled down the window, he said, “Look, pal, we don’t appreciate being spied on. Tell that Michael douche to leave me and my mate alone!”

Castiel’s heart did a little flip at the ‘my mate’ part of the statement, even though the fact that the private investigator was here was the whole reason they had to pretend.

Dean, meanwhile, just went right on, “And if you have, like, a sex tape or something, my brother will sue you out of everything you own. He’s the best damn lawyer there is.”

“I have no idea who you are,” the man said, although the binoculars on the passenger seat gave him away. “I’m here to catch Mr Olderman’s mate cheating on him.” He pointed at the Oldermans’ residence across the street.

“What kind of a stupid-ass excuse is that?” Dean asked. “Mrs Olderman doesn’t cheat on her mate.”

“Well, Mr Olderman thinks so. Now, do you mind? I’m undercover here.”

“Yeah, you’re doing a bang-up job with that.” Dean rolled his eyes and then just left without saying goodbye.

“Nice meeting you,” Castiel mumbled to be polite and then followed Dean back into the house.

“Do you believe him?” he asked Dean once inside again.

“Dunno. If it’s true, Mr Olderman has to be completely blind. They’re so obviously in love with each other. No way is she cheating.”

“Yes,” Castiel agreed. “I guess some people are just very oblivious. Do you want to have sex tonight?”

“Hell yeah!”

Suddenly, Dean’s bad mood was gone.

⁂

The next day at work, Sam stopped by his office.

“Hi, I’ve been trying to reach you…” He trailed off when his eyes landed on his neck. “Wow. You… uhm… went a bit overboard there, huh?”

“Oh.” Castiel touched his fake mating bite, suddenly self-conscious about what it might reveal about his feelings for Sam’s brother. He looked at the closed door to make sure he could speak openly, and said, “Well… we were… pretending.”

There was a beat of silence. “Right.”

Sam didn’t seem convinced and something inside of him really wanted to tell the truth, so he said, “We were just playing mated.”

Sam’s face fell into a frown. “Dean doesn’t play mated.”

“That’s not true. We’ve been doing it for a while now. It was your idea,” Castiel reminded Sam.

“Yes, in front of other people. But Dean never wanted to get mated, so he doesn’t role play these things just for fun.”

Oh. Dean didn’t want to get mated? And here Castiel was, daydreaming about their future together where they might stop faking and get mated for real.

His facial expression had to have given him away because Sam tried to backpedal, “That’s not what I meant…”

“I have a few days’ worth of work to make up for, so…” Castiel said, trying to get rid of Sam so that he could organize his thoughts.

But at that moment, the door to his office swung open and Zachariah waltzed in.

“Oh. Williams, right?” he said when he saw Sam.

“No.”

“Anyway.” Zachariah dismissed Sam’s presence to turn to Castiel. “There have been allegations of mating fraud made against you.”


	10. Chapter 10

Castiel’s mouth went dry. They had been foolish to think they could pull this off. Of _course_ , people would notice that Dean wasn’t in love with him. Pretending to be in love with someone was difficult, there were always tells. Just because Castiel hadn’t been able to distinguish reality from fantasy didn’t mean that other people weren’t on to them.

Before he could think of something to say to that, Sam thankfully jumped in, lawyer mode taking over. “Who made those allegations?”

“Who are you even?” Zachariah asked, obviously not happy being questioned.

“The mate in law.”

Zachariah harrumphed, but eventually answered the question, “We got an anonymous tip.”

Michael. It had to be Michael. He just wouldn’t give up.

“That’s convenient,” Sam said. “Does this anonymous tipster have any proof?”

“That’s why I am here. We take these allegations very seriously.”

“I bet you do,” Sam mumbled, but it was probably too quiet for Zachariah to hear.

Castiel was glad that Sam was here taking charge and doing all of the talking because his own thoughts were spiraling. Would he be sent to jail for this? Would _Dean_? Could he ask Dean to mate him for real to avoid all of that? Sure, the alpha hadn’t wanted to get mated, but he might prefer it to a prison sentence. And there were always ways to break a mating bond later…

“Doctor Wright is expecting you. His examination will reveal the truth.” Zachariah made a gesture for him to follow, but Castiel found it hard to get up from his chair. His legs didn’t want to cooperate.

He was supposed to go get examined by some doctor _now_?! How was he supposed to come up with a plan if they didn’t even give him any time to contact Dean?

“I’m sure you’re familiar with article 37c, paragraph 4 of the Omega Business Laws,” Sam said, unimpressed.

Zachariah turned back around to Sam, an annoyed look on his face. “Of course I am familiar with it. But I don’t think it applies here.”

“It does if combined with article 52 paragraph 3. Wasn’t this huge company in Iowa sued out of existence because of it?” Sam raised his eyebrows at Castiel as if expecting him to agree with him.

Castiel had never heard of any company in Iowa being sued because of mating fraud related issues, so he just stared back, unsure of what to say.

Meanwhile, the annoyed frown on Zachariah’s face grew more pronounced. He pointed a finger at Castiel and said, “Don’t leave the building. I’ll be right back.”

Then he left the office. Castiel, whose back had been ramrod straight ever since Zachariah had entered his office, slumped back in his chair.

“Okay, we don’t have much time till he figures out that article 37c doesn’t exist.” Sam was all business. “Here’s what we’re going to do. Mating bites don’t always take. I read about this couple that thought they had been mated for, like, thirty years, only to find out that the initial mating bite hadn’t actually taken effect. You’ll just act all surprised when the doctor tells you that you aren’t mated and we can pass it off as a mating bite that hasn’t taken.”

That actually sounded like a good plan. But so had the plan to fool everyone into thinking he was mated to Dean.

Castiel heaved a nervous sigh. “I don’t know. I’m not that great an actor.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. You were doing a great job pretending to be in love with Dean.”

“Yes, well… I suppose,” Castiel mumbled, a bit flustered, since he couldn’t very well admit that he hadn’t been acting at all.

For some reason, a smirk appeared on Sam’s face. “That’s what I thought.”

That was a very strange reaction, but Castiel didn’t want to admonish him that this wasn’t the time for smirking because Sam had been very helpful so far and he wouldn’t have known what to do without him.

“You’ll do just fine,” Sam went on. “They can’t arrest you on the grounds that you don’t look surprised enough. I’ll tell Dean—you just hang tight and don’t admit to anything, okay?”

At that moment, Zachariah burst through the door once more, this time accompanied by an alpha in a lab coat who was holding a medical bag.

“There is no article 37c,” Zachariah ground out when his eyes landed on Sam.

“My bad. Must have confused it with some other article. I’ll look it up.” Sam shot Castiel one last reassuring look that said _You got this!_ and then left the office, probably to warn Dean.

“Let’s take a look at that mating bite,” the doctor said as he put his medical bag on Castiel’s desk on top of a bunch of papers and started unpacking it.

There was some poking and prodding and pinching of his mating gland while the doctor was ‘hm’-ing and ‘ah’-ing before he took some blood.

“We will have the results in half an hour,” he declared and packed his things. Then, he left together with Zachariah.

As soon as he was alone again, Sam came back and tried to distract him by telling him what he had originally come by to talk about. As Dean had already mentioned, he had found a way for Castiel to keep his job even unmated, once that whole mating fraud issue had been taken care of.

“You know, so you can stop _pretending_ ,” he finished, a knowing look on his face.

What exactly he thought he knew, Castiel had no idea. Since he was also puzzled as to why Sam had stressed the word ‘pretending’ in such a weird way, he just said, “I’m sure Dean will be very happy.”

That got him a confused frown. “What?”

“You said yourself that he doesn’t enjoy playing mated.”

“That’s not what I was saying _at all_. I said he doesn’t normally do these kinds of things. ‘Pretending’ until your mating gland looks like _that_?” Castiel tried very hard not to blush. “Is not something he does with omegas. Which means this has to be special to him.”

Feeling his face flush despite himself, Castiel mumbled, “I don’t know about that…”

Dean had never said anything about wanting more than their fake mate relationship. Although there _had_ been a lot of kissing involved while they had been sexually intimate. And then there was the fact that they had slept together even after Dean’s rut had ended. The alpha had been very tender with him and they had fallen asleep in each other’s arms just like mates did. It had been very easy to pretend when everything had felt so real…

He had to chase those thoughts away when it was time to go to Zachariah’s office. He practiced his shocked gasp for when the doctor pronounced that he wasn’t mated, and then they were on their way.

Of course, the doctor was present in Zachariah’s office, but so was Michael, which was just typical.

The doctor cleared his throat and started, “After examining the omega thoroughly, I can say with certainty that he is, in fact, mated.”

“I knew it!” Michael yelled triumphantly. “Wait, what?”

“What?” Castiel repeated and got elbowed in the ribs by Sam for that. Right, his shocked reaction had been reserved for when the doctor stated that he _wasn’t_ mated.

Had the doctor made a mistake? Unlikely if he had tested his blood. That only left the explanation that their little game of pretend mating during Dean’s rut had been a bit too realistic. Castiel had felt a connection form between them, but he had assumed it was just that he was falling deeper in love. After all, his feelings in Dean’s presence had been steadily growing stronger ever since he had met the alpha.

“Okay, I think that’s the end of that,” Zachariah declared.

“But he—” Michael started, but was cut off by Zachariah.

“I think you wasted quite enough of my time today. Novak—keep up the good work.”

“I think he should be compensated for what he went through here today,” Sam chimed in.

Castiel didn’t really listen to him negotiate some sort of bizarre settlement deal on his behalf. He was busy freaking out about how to tell Dean that apparently, they weren’t faking or pretending anymore.

⁂

_The jig is up._

That’s all the text message from Sam said.

What the hell was that supposed to mean? He tried calling Sam, but it went straight to voicemail. Same thing with Cas.

There was really only one jig that could be up, though, and it meant he was about to lose Cas.

If everyone knew, that would mean there was no reason to be fake mated anymore.

There was no way he would give Cas up that easily, so there was really only one thing for Dean to do.

⁂

_Dean, I know you never wanted to get mated, but surprise! We’re mated._

No, that was too straightforward.

_Before you flip out, keep in mind that mating bonds can be broken._

Yes, much better.

Castiel took a deep breath and opened the front door of what had become his home.

“Dean, before you flip—”

He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Dean in a suit, and he forgot all about what he had wanted to say. Dean’s lumberjack style of clothing really worked for him, but the last time Castiel had seen him in a suit had been at Michael’s dinner party, and he had to admit that the alpha looked mighty fine in it.

There was music playing in the background and Castiel had no idea what was going on.

“Cas,” Dean started. “Being fake mated to you has been… It’s been real. I mean, not ‘real’ obviously, but… Damn. My speech sounded a lot smoother in my head. Anyway, for me, it _was_ kind of real, I guess. In the way that… you know. My feelings were. So, whatever happened or will happen, whatever Sam has figured out… It doesn’t matter because I know we’re good together and you’ve made me happier than I’ve ever been. And I think I can make you pretty damn happy, too. So… Will you mate me? For real, I mean.”

Castiel’s brain short-circuited. Or maybe it was his heart. Probably both. He wanted to say so much at once, but what came out was a simple, “I can’t.”

“Oh.”

Dean looked so crushed and at the same time had his stoic expression on his face that meant he was burying what he really felt, which made Castiel’s brain rebooted on the spot. When he replayed what he had just said in his mind, he quickly added, “No, I mean—because we already _are_ mated.”

“What?”

“I guess your fake mating bite took?” Castiel touched his neck almost subconsciously as he told Dean what had happened at work today.

“Guess that means you’re stuck with me, huh?” Dean said when Castiel had finished. Even though he had a lopsided smile on his face, his voice sounded a bit strained.

That’s when he realized that Dean didn’t know the feelings were mutual.

“I would have said yes,” he blurted out. “To the mating proposal. If we weren’t already mated.”

“Yeah?” Dean’s smile turned more genuine.

“Yes,” Castiel confirmed. “It has been real for me too. For a while now.”

“Does that mean I get to kiss you now?” Dean asked, smile turning teasing.

But he didn’t wait for an answer and just kissed Castiel’s mating bite, and then his lips.

Their first kiss as a mated couple. Well, that wasn’t quite true. Their first kiss as a mated couple while neither of them was under the illusion that it was just fake.

Luckily, it was without a doubt the first of many.

**Author's Note:**

> Yay, finished another one! 😃 I have an idea for a different fake/pretend relationship fic, so you might want to keep your eyes open for that, but it might also be a while till I get around to it since I want to finish my other WIPs first.
> 
> I hope you like the ending, and if you do, I hope to hear from you in the comment section. ❤️
> 
> If you want to support me, here is the **[rebloggable tumblr post](https://destielshipper4cas.tumblr.com/post/638965851182268416/how-to-fake-a-mating-finished)**.


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